


Quarantine AU (Where Has All The Charmin Gone?)

by QuarantineKate



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Anya thinks she’s funny, Clexa, Enamored Clarke, F/F, Fluff, Journalist Lexa, NPR, Quarantine, Where is all of the toilet paper
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:33:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23287828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuarantineKate/pseuds/QuarantineKate
Summary: Clarke and Lexa don’t get along. But they’re secretly pining. And Raven has a nervous stomach. And there’s a pandemic. And all the toilet paper is gone. Oh what could go wrong? (Or right for that matter.) Basically just fluff because I am bored and quarantined.
Relationships: Clarke Griffin/Lexa
Comments: 29
Kudos: 262





	Quarantine AU (Where Has All The Charmin Gone?)

_“Clarke, seriously. You know I know people. I’m telling you, it’s gonna hit us, too, and when it does -_ everybody _, and I mean everybody, is gonna lose their shit! And that is exactly my point, Clarke! Toilet paper. Lots of it!”_

“Raven.” Clarke sighed heavily. She knew it was probably true. She also knew Raven had a nervous bowel - the bird flu scare had been particularly problematic ( _My name is literally a bird, Clarke! I’m probably like ten times more likely to catch it!_ ) and the explosive diarrhea that accompanied Raven’s panic was... “Okay, I’ll pick up toilet paper while I’m here. Is there anything else we need?”

“Toilet paper. As much as you can. Spare no expense!”

Clarke ended the call and headed into the grocery store. Her list was small, thankfully, because now her shopping cart would be filled from bottom to top with toilet paper.

As Clarke loaded up the conveyer belt, the cashier smiled warmly at her. Two frozen pizzas, a jar of crunchy peanut butter and some marshmallow fluff, bananas, wheat bread, toothpaste, and a 24 pack of Double Roll Mega Strong toilet paper... and another... and another... and-

“Wow, four of these toilet papers, eh? Prepping for the apocalypse so soon?”

“Oh, uh, no, it’s... it’s for work, in an office, just, um, stocking up. The coffee kinda runs through you there, it’s not pretty.” Clarke lied to the cashier to avoid the disdain that would come along with being _one of those people_.

“Ah, that’s never pleasant.” She smiled again and loaded up the cart for Clarke who took it and got out of there before any more eyes leered at her suspiciously.

It had been all over the news - some new disease popped up on the other side of the world and it had been spreading, slowly but steadily throughout the world. It would reach them, of course it would, but so far the spread to Ton DC had been nonexistent and so there was no panic among its residents. Yet. And to hear Chancellor Jaha talk, you’d think they were somehow immune to it. “It’s a hoax,” he decreed during one of his blowhard speeches he called a ‘Colonial Address.’ “The capital of Polis is strong! We are not weak or feeble like those residents across the oceans, we have the very best doctors and I am leading far better than the presidents of those hardest hit. Stay calm and go about your business.” The man was an idiot.

Raven worked for the private sector in some kind of top secret capacity. Or maybe it was just that her job was confusing to Clarke. She didn’t know any of the particulars, but she could always trust Raven’s intel. That and Clarke spent her morning commute to work listening to NPR (National Polis Radio) as it was known for its superior journalistic integrity. Well, and the morning host was stunning and incredibly smart and her voice put Clarke at ease even when the news was troubling. Still, they’d been saying it for weeks - “We are not immune” “Turning a blind eye to the rest of the world in crisis is the worst thing Chancellor Jaha can do right now” “We should all be preparing for the inevitable” - take small steps now so you’re ready _when_. And so they did. Clarke and Raven had canned goods and soaps, bottled waters and dry goods, enough for about a month if need be, though likely less because Raven may have a nervous bowel, but Clarke tended to be a nervous eater. And if she’s stuck inside for a month, she is going to snack, dammit.

How, in all of their earlier shops, they’d neglected the obvious need for toilet paper was beyond her. Raven had been so focused on what foods either of them could actually figure out how to cook without starting a fire that she had forgotten all about the other more hygiene specific needs of a quarantine. Raven had bought most of their soaps and shampoos and the like at a bulk goods store two weeks ago when she first caught wind of a possible infection here in the area. It had been kept under wraps and so far, it would seem, the pilot had been successfully quarantined and recovered before it spread to anyone else. And so Raven had not been nervous before today. In fact, with all of their foresight and prep, she had been feeling relatively in control and calm. So when her phone had chimed that morning with an alert from her boss, _Two possible cases in Ton DC_ , the panic hit her in a sudden wave that forced her into the bathroom and on the phone with her roommate almost immediately.

Clarke managed to get all four of the 24-pack-Mega-Double-Holy-Shit-that’s-a-lot-of-toilet-paper packs into her trunk, but only barely. The rest of her groceries sat comfortably on the passenger seat in the sole reusable bag she’d brought along. And of course, as luck would have it, Lexa - her infuriatingly attractive but also obnoxiously superior, neighbor was outside walking her dog when Clarke pulled up.

Gustus, the German long-haired pointer with a beautifully rich chestnut brown coat, came bounding over to Clarke when she opened her car door.

“Hey Gus-Gus!” Clarke cooed and rubbed the dog behind his floppy, soft ears.

“It’s Gustus,” Lexa reminded Clarke for the umpteenth time.

Ugh, Lexa. The most beautiful woman Clarke had ever seen. The smartest person she knew (don’t tell Raven). The owner of the very calming voice Clarke listens to every morning on her way in to work. The journalist with a Master’s degree from Harvard and a body shaped by the Gods. The very voice of reason who had said not to hoard goods, not to panic, and not to listen to that fool in the highest office.

“I know,” Clarke popped back, “but I think he likes the nickname. It suits him.”

Clarke was waiting for Lexa to go inside before she popped the trunk, but Lexa just stood nearby as Gustus sniffed around a large shrub near the entrance of their apartment building. _Shit_. Clarke hoisted the grocery bag up onto her shoulder and reached into her trunk for two of the large packs of TP, one under each arm. Raven came bursting out of the front door and grabbed the other two - she’d been watching anxiously out the large window for her roommate to arrive, knee bouncing under her desk with impatience.

Lexa eyed all four packs of toilet paper, eyes wide at first and then narrowing at Clarke.

“I didn’t think you would be part of the problem.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Clarke shot back at Lexa. She wasn’t the damn problem anyway! Raven’s bowel was.

“I know you’re a fan, Clarke. I know you listen. And yet here you are, already hoarding.” Lexa shook her head and pulled on Gustus’ leash to guide him toward the building entrance. “Come on, boy,” she urged.

“What? I-I’m not, I just,” Clarke sputtered. _Lexa knows?_ Instead of mounting any kind of defense, Clarke asked, “How?”

Lexa smirked, then steeled her features to neutral. “You aren’t the only one with intel, Clarke. Not that it matters as you’ve obviously seen fit to ignore my advice entirely.”

“Okay, A, that advice came from people in the government, not you. And B, we have been listening! This is... Raven’s fault!” Clarke tried to counter, but as usual, Clarke only managed to insult the object of her unrequited affection.

High school Clarke was a goody-two-shoes and an average girl-next-door type. She didn’t date much, but she wasn’t exactly awkward either. College Clarke was a party girl. She found herself in college, came into her own, and exuded confidence at every turn. She could pull any boy or girl she wanted. There was a good stint with a girl named Niylah and a smattering of other less serious relationships but, in the end, she ended up with Finn, a fuckboy grad student with daddy’s money and charisma out the ass, who cheated on her and seriously messed with her swagger. Two years of her life felt wasted on the wrong person and despite the fact that people were definitely interested in her, Clarke came out of that relationship with a chip on her shoulder. Her confidence had been irrevocably shaken.

“You’re right, Clarke. It did come from the government. But it was a very reliable source. I thought you were one of the good guys, Clarke. I guess I was wrong.” With that, Lexa turned on her heel and ushered Gustus inside, leaving Clarke standing in the doorway with a confused expression on her face.

____________

“You’re her source, aren’t you Raven?” Clarke worked it out on her way up the four flights of stairs to their apartment. “What all have you told her?”

“In general, or...” Raven shied away from the daggers Clarke sent her.

“What? About me, you ass! Lexa seemed awfully confident when she called me a fan!” Clarke’s voice was a higher octave than normal; she felt mortified and betrayed.

“Oh... ah... um. Well. We were talking awhile ago, you know, when this whole thing started...”

“Yeah, and?”

“Well she stopped by Blake’s on her way home... we agreed to meet up to discuss the situation as long as I remained anonymous. And... Well, Clarke, come on! You know we only see Octavia now when we go to her bar and I got there early to catch up and I may have been slightly inebriated when Lexa finally got there...”

“AND?” Clarke pushed. She needed to know what Raven had told Lexa. Not like it would help anything at all, but still, she had to know.

“I told her you listen to her every morning. She seemed flattered, Clarke! She said it always seemed kinda like you mostly just had some kind of contempt for her because you seem slightly irritated by her existence - her words!” Raven held her hands up in a sort of surrender before continuing. “Octavia laughed and then I laughed and she just looked so perplexed and um, I may have mentioned that it’s just how you deal with... your crush. I’m so sorry!”

“Raven!” Clarke gasped. Her hands flew to her face and she buried herself in them. “She knows?” The question came out mumbled and low but Raven caught it.

“If it makes you feel any better...she smiled. Like, a real smile.” Raven watched Clarke’s hands slowly fall from her face, her expression curious but not overly hopeful. “I think she might like you back, Clarke...” Raven tacked on, digging herself out of the hole she created.

“Well,” Clarke spoke quietly, “She doesn’t now. She called me part of the problem and I’m pretty sure I offended her.”

It was hopeless. Lexa was too perfect and Clarke was too, well, Clarke. And if they did end up quarantined, Clarke only hoped that she wouldn’t run into Lexa and make a bigger ass of herself.

_____________

One week. The two locals were careless. They’d arrived home to Ton DC from a vacation on the other side of the ocean and were symptomless. Chancellor Jaha ignored the warnings from his highest scientific aides. He had never been a fan of science - hard to be when it all goes so far over your head - and allowed the couple to return to life as it had been before their trip. Both of them were carriers, but only one of them got sick. Both of them had interacted with countless people since their return. And so, much to Jaha’s surprise, it spread. Ton DC had been compromised, the people in Polis panicked, and Jaha’s security team locked him away in the underground bunker to keep him safe.

Trying to reassure her listeners was becoming increasingly difficult. Lexa read off the latest headline and volleyed a question to the doctor she had on the line. The back and forth was solemn. People were dying across the globe and now, despite all of the time to prepare and all of the precautions that could have been taken by Jaha (if he had only _listened_ ) the pandemic had reached them.

In a mere ten hours, the stores had been ransacked. Widespread fear and panic led to mayhem in the streets. All of the soups were gone from shelves, canned veggies and fruits as well, and every type of pasta - except lasagna noodles for some reason - had been completely wiped out. On top of that, there were no paper towels or packs of toilet paper left anywhere in the city. It would appear that nobody had been listening to her, not even her fans like Clarke Griffin. At least Clarke had gotten toilet paper, Lexa thought to herself. _Fuck_. She only has three more rolls at home.

“So, Doctor Griffin, what can you tell me? How many people have been tested so far?” Lexa questioned the woman carefully. Abby Griffin was the Chief of Medicine at Arkadia Memorial Hospital. She had also been the doctor urging Jaha to take action, something she had been punished for. Abby was no longer on the Chancellor’s council, and although it was a harsh and absurd move, it allowed Lexa access to the information Dr. Griffin could now give freely.

“We can’t be sure exactly how many people were exposed. We’ve tested one hundred people to date, but the results are slow to come back, which is incredibly unfortunate given the circumstances. Yesterday, there were fifty-two positive cases. Before you called me this morning, I got word that the number has risen to eighty-one.”

Lexa pulled in a breath. _Damn_. “I know you’ve been calling for people to self-quarantine, to stay at home if possible, but so far it seems that very few people are actually listening to you, Doctor. In other counties, they’ve issued a shelter-in-place order and it has helped curb the spread. Is that something we should be considering here?”

“It absolutely is, but as you know, Chancellor Jaha removed me from his council when I spoke about such measures. It is unclear to me now if he will heed the warnings or continue to hide from the truth. The situation is dire, and, if it were up to me, the order would be called effective immediately.”

“One last question, Doctor Griffin, if I may.”

“Of course, go ahead.”

“What advice would you give to your own daughter? Should she buy all of the toilet paper she can get her hands on, or -”

“Absolutely not. Listen, the grocery stores would remain open even in the event of a lock-down. Supply and demand, economics, it isn’t my forte but I know that anyone hoarding goods will and has, in some countries, put a further strain on already weakening economies. It just isn’t necessary.”

If Clarke was listening today, Lexa made her point. Maybe it hadn’t been her advice, but surely Clarke would listen to her own mother.

Somewhere, someone within the Chancellor’s council must also have been listening. After stopping at several stores in a desperate search for toilet paper (to no avail), Lexa was headed home from work when a colleague’s voice broke over the radio.

_“A shelter-in-place order has officially been given by the Chancellor. If you are out right now, you must return home. At five p.m. tonight, anyone caught out of their dwelling will be questioned by police and fined, potentially quarantined in a cell. Please, everyone in Polis, if you are listening, go home. Stay safe. And wash your damn hands!”_

There it was. Lexa called the station, asked for her boss.

_“You’ve got equipment at home, right?”_

“You know I do, Indra. I suppose this means I’ll be doing my show from home for the foreseeable future.”

_“Indeed. I’ll coordinate phone interviews for you going forward. Make sure you check your email frequently. I’m not sure how exactly this will play out.”_

Indra was forever calm, but even she seemed slightly worried. Her daughter would have to return home from college, and while it would be nice to see her, Indra also lived with her elderly mother who was in the age group that was most at-risk.

“I will, no worries. You gonna be okay?”

_“I’ll manage. You?”_

“I should be okay. Take care of yourself, and get home!” Lexa knew Indra would stay at the office as late as possible; she was as dedicated to the news as Lexa was and this right now is the easily the biggest news story of their lifetimes.

_“I will, I will. Oh, and Lexa, make sure you have toilet paper in case this shit hits the fan, you here?”_

Lexa just sighed as she ended the call and decided to try just one more store before going home. Even the hardware stores were out of TP. And soap. And sanitizer. There were pallets of bleach next to checkout registers, but the one thing Lexa needed was all gone. _Fuck_.

Gustus was wagging his tail excitedly when she opened the door to her apartment. Lexa grabbed his leash from the counter and attached it to his green collar. She felt bad for him. After today, their walks would be cut short, only a quick trip out so he can do his business (at least he doesn’t need toilet paper) but no morning jogs and no trips to the dog park, either. Shelter-in-place plans had gone fairly smoothly from what Lexa had heard, at least in other parts of the world, but Polis didn’t exactly have a completely competent leader and it worried Lexa. She walked Gustus down two flights of stairs, mind racing with what-ifs, and ran right into Clarke outside of her apartment door.

“Oof,” Clarke gasped out. Her keys had fallen onto the floor with a clatter and Gustus was sniffing at them when Lexa’s head snapped up as she realized what had just happened.

“Oh,” Lexa said, “I’m sorry. I was just, I didn’t mean to -”

“It’s okay,” Clarke reassured her as she leaned down to pick her keys up. The t-shirt she was wearing was low cut and Lexa couldn’t stop herself from eyeing the blonde’s ample bosom as she leaned down. Her eyes snapped up quickly when Clarke caught her gaze, a slight smile creeping onto her lips. Lexa looked from Clarke’s mouth to the little beauty mark above her lip, then up to brilliant blue eyes that had a bit of a sparkle in them at present.

“Done with work for the day, then?” Clarke asked, the grin even wider. _Yikes_. She definitely caught Lexa checking her out.

“Oh, uh, yeah. I’ll be working from home after today, anyway.”

“Why?”

“Haven’t you heard? They announced it on NPR, the shelter-in-place order?”

Clarke’s eyes went wide, devoid of the mischievous sparkle they held just a moment ago. She didn’t know.

“Oh,” Lexa said with the realization that Clarke had no idea the order had been given. _Oh_. “Do you only listen to my show then?”

“Fuck. Raven didn’t say,” Clarke pulled her phone out of her pocket and scrolled through a string of messages. “Dammit. Shit. I’ve gotta go!” Clarke turned on her heel and started to run down the flight of stairs.

“You shouldn’t leave, Clarke!” Lexa called after her. Did she not understand the concept or did she just really not _listen_ to anything Lexa says?

“I’m aware, thanks!” Clarke snapped back at Lexa, still hurrying down the stairs as she said it.

Lexa let out a huff and led Gustus forward - he needed to pee, she could tell, and she needed to get him as much fresh air as she could before it was no longer possible. She let him sniff every tree and bush they came across, jogged casually with him along the path to the dog park, and let him run free and wild - the complex hadn’t closed it yet, but an earlier e-mail she’d received from them said it would be closed at 5 pm, padlocked and unaccessible until thecity’s order was lifted. Lexa sat on the bench just inside the fence and read headlines on her phone while Gus ran around and chased a tennis ball. A text message popped up breaking her focus.

**Anya:** You make it home, kid?

**Lexa:** Yes. With Gustus at the dog park now. You’re working from home, right?

**Anya:** I am, cleared it with my boss yesterday. I’m not going anywhere, Lexa.

Anya, thankfully, lived across town a bit outside of the immediate area of highest risk. Anya was the only family Lexa had left and if something happened to her, it would be too much for Lexa to bear. Anya had taken her advice weeks ago, bought staples and prepared for quarantine, took her work laptop home and was locked up tight before the announcement hit today.

**Lexa:** Good. Thank you.

**Anya:** Call me later?

**Lexa:** Will do.

The walk back from the dog park was slow; Gustus had tuckered himself out and was panting heavily. Clarke’s car was gone from her usual spot. Of course it was. What could she possibly have needed so desperately? More toilet paper? Lexa shook her head. Why does she care? Why did her thoughts always lead back to the blonde bombshell neighbor who obviously didn’t give a damn at all about her?

When Raven had told Lexa that Clarke had a crush on her, she was shocked because, well, most of their interactions had ended with Clarke seemingly annoyed. Just as it had earlier. And sure, Lexa was aware that she didn’t always come across as rosy and overtly friendly, but she wasn’t a bitch, either. And especially now, given the pandemic and shelter order, she was merely trying to look out for Clarke, but the reply she’d gotten felt pretty harsh. It was certainly nice to think that Clarke’s behavior toward her was a sort of self-preservation thing and that Clarke secretly had a crush on her, but it just didn’t add up. And besides, it wasn’t like her listeners didn’t know that Lexa was a raging homosexual. Like, if Clarke _liked_ her, why hadn’t she just... said something? Because Lexa would definitely be interested. Well, would have been interested, if not for the typically rude shit that seemed to fly out of Clarke’s mouth every time they interacted.

“Alright, Gustus, let’s get inside.”

_______

_Fuck!_ There was some kind of shelter order about to go down and Raven’s car chose today of all days to kick the bucket. _She’s a classic, Clarke_. Classic piece of shit, Clarke thought as she glanced at the time again. Raven said she called a tow truck for the car, at least, but that meant they’d be under this quarantine thing, and Raven’s baby would be all alone in some shop and— Clarke can just imagine how much fun listening to Raven whine about _that_ was going to be.

The drive downtown didn’t take as long as Clarke expected it to, likely because most people were already home and off the roads, but there were a lot more police cars out, so she couldn’t speed which was’t a problem, it just wasn’t as fun. Clarke pulled into the parking lot of a nondescript gray-brick building that had no windows and one very large steel door at the front. She spotted Raven talking to a guy in overalls, the vintage car up on the flatbed of his tow truck, and Raven nodded at something he said before jogging over in Clarke’s direction.

“Hey, Clarke. Thanks for the lift!” Raven jumped in to the passenger seat and Clarke was in reverse and moving before her seatbelt had even clicked in place.

“Yeah, sure. But this shelter thing is happening soon and there was way more traffic headed out of the city than there was coming to get you.” Clarke seemed genuinely worried, freaked out, disheveled even.

“Clarke, it’s okay. We have time to get home. And as long as we are headed home when it takes effect, we won’t get into any trouble.” Raven patted Clarke thigh reassuringly and tried to throw her a smile, but Clarke was hyper-focused on the road before her, swerving around cars and changing lanes. “Shit, dude, let’s at least get home! In one piece!” Raven’s hand moved from Clarke to the edge of the seat as she tried to hang on.

“Raven,” Clarke sighed. It was how she drove. It was always how she had driven. “I’m just, I mean... I know we prepared for this or, whatever is happening, and all that, but I’m still kind of freaking out, okay?”

“I know, Clarke. I do, but I promise it’s going to be okay. Is the museum still going to pay you?” Raven was trying to get Clarke’s mind off of the panic, she knew that. But Clarke needed to breathe, so she welcomed the distraction.

“Yes, for now, but the Director said it will all depend on some stimulus package they’re expecting the government to pass. And he did say it’ll likely only be a percentage. But, I talked to my mom earlier and you know she’ll help us with rent if we need it.” Thankfully, but Clarke knew not everybody was that lucky, and she was terrified of how Octavia would fare. All of the bars and restaurants had been ordered to close. How was she going to pay her bills if she had no patrons?

“Well, you know I can work from home, too, and I’ll still get paid my full salary because I work for the government, so, tell Mama G thanks, but we’ll be okay, Griff.”

“Well, I know you will be, but I probably won’t be able to pay my half if this quarantine lasts more than a month.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t actually last that long. Let’s hope people get their heads out of their asses and start being clean and all that. Okay?” Raven let Clarke mull it over as she changed lanes and merged onto the freeway that would take them home. “Anyway, how was the rest of your day? Did you work on that painting at all?”

“Oh, no. I didn’t have time. I was listening to NPR this morning. My mom was on talking to Lexa. Oh, and get this, Lexa had the nerve to call me out on the radio to my own mother, Raven, about the damn toilet paper! Mom was like ‘oh my gosh Clarke I had no idea the hot brunette in your building was Lexa blah blah blah’ and I tried to get her to move past it all, but she ended up lecturing me about _everything_ for like a half hour. But then she moved on and started explaining what all has been happening at the hospital and it was all sounding so scary and you know she was trying to help and give me all the information she could but it didn’t help... so then I stress ate a bag of Oreos... oh and then you called... I ran into Lexa on my way out, or, I mean she ran into me I think... I yelled at Lexa, sort of. Dammit, Rae, why do I keep doing that?”

Raven chucked, “Honestly? I mean I have a theory, well O and I figured it out together, but are you asking me or were you meaning it to be rhetorical?”

Clarke shot Raven a glare before she eased into the exit lane and snarked, “I meant for it to be rhetorical, of course, but do enlighten me.”

“Okay, so here’s the thing, Clarke. I know you loved him, but Finn was honestly mostly a dick. Sure, he had great hair and that charming smile, and I mean, at first he seems so genuine its hard to imagine he isn’t, and I get that. But when you found out, and everything happened, you... it’s like you let him take your confidence with him when you kicked him out. You just sort of believed that he was this genuine guy and that if he cheated, it was something to do with you, but Clarke - it wasn’t. He’s an asshole. You’re amazing and you deserve to be happy.”

“I appreciate that, Rae, but I’m not sure that’s really an answer.”

“Remember the day you met Lexa?”

Of course she remembered. It was two years, three months, seventeen days, and about... three hours from now... ago.

_“Clarke, are you on your way home, yet?”_

_“Yes, Raven. I told you I had to stop at the store and grab a cake for the party. Octavia doesn’t turn twenty-five every day, you know!”_

_“Oh, I forgot. Okay. Cool. Well. I met our new neighbor today and Clarke, she is hot! Like, she’s super hot and totally in my league, too. She’s got a Master’s degree, she has her own show on the radio, and I invited her to the party tonight so, like, just a heads up, I’m gonna need you to talk me up, okay?”_

_“I thought you and Bellamy had a thing-non-thing-thing going on?”_

_“I mean, sure, but I don’t like him like that, Clarke.”_

_It wasn’t really that odd for Raven to invite a total stranger to their best friend’s birthday party. They’d probably have thirty-some random people eating their food and drinking their beer and Clarke would maybe know five or six of them. Raven always loved a good party, and well, so did Octavia - she did own a bar, after all._

_And sure, Raven had told her the mysterious new neighbor was hot, but Clarke was wholly unprepared for the punch to the gut she felt when she finally laid her eyes on the woman. She was lean and toned and her jawline could cut the glass bottle in Clarke’s hands and her eyes were so... vibrant and electric and staring right at her and_ oh God _she’s looking, too._

_“Lexa,” she said as she reached her hand out to shake Clarke’s. “You must the roommate, Clarke, right?”_

_Her mouth was dry and her brain was fuzzy, and it surprised her that, when she touched their fingers together as she slid her hand in to shake Lexa’s, a jolt of electricity ran through her entire body. “Uh-huh” was all she could manage to croak out._

_Thankfully, Raven and Monty came over to join the conversation (what conversation?) and save Clarke from any further bumbling in front of this... this goddess with chocolate hair flowing in waves around that_ jaw _and eyes so green that Clarke felt lost in the woods without a compass to bring her back to reality and_ oh God _, Clarke was still just staring,_ snap out of it, Jesus!

_Clarke shook her head and tried desperately to focus on the words, on the actual conversation, now happening right in front of her._

_“So, Lexa, you’re a host on NPR?” Monty questioned, clearly curious._

_“I am, yes. I host the morning show from seven to nine.”_

_“On the radio?” Clarke piped up, unexpectedly. “With_ that _face?” She immediately realized she had accidentally vocalized her internal thoughts and took a huge gulp of beer before walking quickly away, mortified, to the other side of the room, to anywhere in the apartment that wasn’t near Lexa._

_Clarke had managed to keep a significant distance between herself and Lexa for about forty minutes before..._

_“Hello, Clarke.” Lexa smiled warmly at her and it was so beautiful the way her lips pulled up and the way she said Clarke’s name, the click of the k, nobody said it like that, nobody had made her knees feel weak before, either, with the sound of her name and a smile and_ Oh God _she was just staring dumbly at Lexa again._ Fuck _._

_“Hey,” she replied weakly._

_“So, what was that face comment you made earlier? What did that mean?” Lexa seemed genuine enough about it, but there was a smirk, maybe it was a smirk, Clarke couldn’t tell, but she definitely didn’t want to be called out for her moment of weakness and she wasn’t really ready for the way her stomach swooped every time their eyes met and there was no way she could handle this, not this, not after everything..._

_“Nothing,” she said, clinging to a sudden surge of false confidence. “I just meant, you look like you like attention, you know, with a face like that, so I’m surprised you picked a form of media that doesn’t allow people to you know, gawk at you.”_ Fuck _._

_“Wow. Okay. I’m sorry I gave you that impression,” Lexa looked dejected and maybe, is that a moment of hurt in her eyes?_ Oh no _. “I just like the news, Clarke, however I can report it. The truth matters, that’s all,” she added before walking away._

_Clarke watched Lexa walk to the front door, say something to Raven, and walk out of the apartment. Clarke had no idea then that Lexa wouldn’t step foot into their apartment again, but if she had, maybe she would have gone after Lexa. Probably not. Raven stormed over to Clarke, eyes narrowed, and Clarke knew she’d blown it for her best friend._ Shit _._

_“Clarke, what did you say to her?” Raven demanded, arms folded over her chest._

_“Um, I...” Clarke looked down at the floor, uneasy. “I’m sorry, Raven. I know you’re into her, but there was something, I can’t name it, I just... she’s so pretty and my heart, I couldn’t take it, you know, how it was like... thump thumping like a lot, and I just...”_

_“Okay, okay. I get it.” Raven placed her arm on Clarke’s and rubbed gently. “It’s okay. She’s hot and all, but like, we didn’t click. So, no worries, Clarke.”_

_“Are you sure? I’m really sorry!”_

_“Oh, I’m sure. Her eyes were on someone else all night.” Raven smirked, but it fell when she realized the girl Lexa had been eyeing all night had just insulted her, hurt her feelings, and caused her to flee what was shaping up to be a really good time. “Um, we should get the cake ready, yeah?”_

_“Yeah.” Clarke headed to the kitchen and tried to ignore the queasy feeling in her stomach._

“I remember it, Raven. You know I do.”

“Okay, well. The theory is... you caught feels that day. You guys have some serious chemistry, Clarke.”

“We do not!” Clarke scoffed. Absurd.

“You do, Clarke, you still do, but you ignore it because you think you have to. Finn fucked you up, okay? You haven’t been the same since and it’s bullshit and you need to snap out of it. But the point is, you felt something for her that day and so you pushed her away because it was easier than allowing yourself to be vulnerable again. There, I said it.”

“He was cheating on me for like a whole year of our two year relationship!”

“Right, like I’ve said before, he’s a dick. But Lexa isn’t Finn.”

“What, no I never said, that’s not...”

“I know, Clarkey-poo, I know.” Raven waited for Clarke to pull into her usual spot and cut the car off before she unbuckled her seat belt, thankful to have made it home safely, and got out of the car, leaving Clarke still seated with a confused expression on her face. Raven decided to head up to the apartment without Clarke - she’d work it out, Raven hoped. (Finally).

“Omigod!” There it is. But Raven was already inside.

____________

“Anya, seriously, I’m almost out!” Lexa pleaded with her sister to understand the dilemma. She’d been quarantined successfully for a week, but her toilet paper was down to a few single sheets and she was desperate. She’d tried to order some online, but everything said “Out of Stock” or companies were asking an incredibly unreasonable price for a pack for six.

“ _I know, but if I try to mail you toilet paper, it’ll get stolen and then we’ll both be out!_ ” Lexa could hear her sister stifle a laugh. “ _What about your hot hoarder neighbor? Didn’t you say she had a ton?_ ”

“Anya,” Lexa deadpanned. “You know I can’t go ask her. She hates me.”

“ _Seems to me like she’s the only option you’ve got. Unless you’re up for peeing in your tub, or over the balcony. You could wipe your ass with printer paper, I suppose..._ ”

“Ugh! You are not helping!” Lexa whined into the phone.

“ _I mean, I am. I’m showing you the options in front of you. Tub, balcony, hot blonde neighbor you’ve been pining after for years... seems like an easy decision to me._ ”

“Oh it does, does it?”

“ _Yeah, the balcony. Rain on somebody else’s quarantine parade._ ” And this time, she didn’t try to hide her laughter at all.

Lexa paced back and forth. Gustus watched her with curiosity, abandoning his chew toy to follow her movements. She was muttering words to herself, psyching herself up, but all Gustus knew was she seemed anxious, so he stretched and walked over to her. Gustus say in front of her with his tail wagging, big brown eyes looking up at her expectantly.

“Do you need to go outside, buddy?” Lexa asked as she halted her pacing and reached for his leash. She could easily stop by Clarke’s apartment on her way back up... Ugh, but there was _no way_ she could ask for toilet paper after how harshly she’d criticized the blonde for buying so much in the first place. But she could not very well pee over the balcony, either. The gods must have hated her, that was the only explanation, because she had to lower her pride and just... ask.

_______

Clarke had been not-so-silently grappling with the realization that all of her bumblings around Lexa were not some kind of curse but were in fact her own subconscious ways of ensuring the brunette would not ever look at her the way she had the night they met - like there might be, could be, something very real between them. She had face-timed Octavia to get her side of the story, but it turned out that Raven had been telling the truth - it was a shared theory and it was totally accurate. “ _I just remember the way you were looking at her, and she was looking back from across the room, and I honestly thought y’all would just go bang it out in your room, but then, well you know_.” And again, yes! She knew, she remembered, and she’d been replaying every interaction they’d had since in her mind on a loop.

“You could just try to be nice to her,” Raven had suggested on Wednesday.

“Honey, if you like this girl, why are you being so difficult about it? You’re stuck in the same building as her for, well, at least the next few weeks. Why don’t you use some of that Griffin charm you inherited from your father and you know, go talk to her.” Her mother was absolutely no help on Thursday morning.

Even Bellamy had texted her a few times with his own form of advice, if you could call it that. “She’s not even that cool, Clarke. It’s all in your head.”

Pffffft. Of course she was _that_ cool. Clarke listened to her every single morning, even while on lockdown, and she was insanely cool. She had her own mini-station in the dining room of her apartment and she talked to people all over the world about all kinds of things and sometimes she was just calm and understanding but then other times, like when she had the head of the Polis Zoo on, she got this excited tone that Clarke knew meant she was smiling and gesticulating her enthusiasm with her hands. _I wonder what else she can do with those hands._ No, nope. Not again. But it was all Clarke could think about, now that she had admitted to herself that she _WAS_ the problem. She’d been completely lost in thoughts of Lexa.

So much so that, when there was a soft knock on her door Friday afternoon, she almost didn’t hear it. Raven nudged Clarke’s thigh with her foot from her spot on the oversized sofa; her laptop was situated on her lap and papers sprawled out all over the cushion next to her. She was talking on the phone, too, but Clarke had no idea what about.

_Knock. Knock._

“Oh!” Clarke suddenly comprehended the reason for Raven’s nudge when she heard the faint knocks again. “Hang on!” Clarke shouted behind her as she threw the blankets off of her lap and jogged toward the door.

Standing before her just on the other side of the threshold was none other than Lexa Woods. _Have I been obsessing so much that I’ve accidentally summoned her here?_ Clarke’s eyes went wide when she remembered her hair was thrown up in the messiest of the buns and she was wearing the same sweatpants for the third day in a row. Her t-shirt was worn and stained with paint and there might even have been some on her face and _oh no._

“Hey...” Lexa looked totally uncomfortable.

Raven peeked over at Clarke when she heard Lexa’s voice, “Be nice!” It came out as a hiss but it wasn’t nearly as quiet as Raven thought it was because Lexa’s head quirked to the side a bit and her eyes bore into Clarke’s with confusion or hope or something else that Clarke couldn’t pinpoint.

“Hey, Lex. What’s up?” It’s weird. Why Lex? Where did that come from? What was happening?

“Listen, um,” she shifted awkwardly on her feet. Gustus was sitting impatiently behind her - he wanted to get pets, and when he saw Clarke, he got up and bounded past Lexa before she could register his movement. She was already unsteady when his leash got tangled around her leg and pulled her feet out from underneath of her. When she looked up, his leash was slack behind him and he had his front paws pressed against Clarke’s belly, tongue out and tail wagging.

Lexa got up to her feet in a flash and was apologizing profusely as she reached out for his leash. “I’m so sorry, oh my gosh, he’s just been so bored - Gustus! - I’m sorry, Clarke.”

Clarke was laughing as she rubbed behind Gustus’s ears; he was trying to lick her face, stretching up on his hind legs as tall as he could get, but she was dodging him with relative ease.

“It’s fine, it’s okay,” she laughed. Lexa’s eyes conveyed worry and embarrassment and Clarke knew it was her own fault for being so rude to Lexa in the past. She must have thought Clarke was horrible and that was totally not true, so Clarke decided it was time to try and rectify that. “Do you, uh, do you wanna come in? I mean, you already are, but I meant like, to stay for a bit?”

Lexa looked utterly shocked. Confused. Terrified? _Yeesh_.

“Uh, sure. Yeah, okay.” Lexa stepped inside fully, let the leash fall back to the floor, and stuffed her hands into her pockets.

___________

_Do I want to come inside? What? Maybe it’s the isolation. Maybe Clarke is cracking._

“I’ve been listening to your show still, in the morning, from home, obviously,” Clarke was rambling and it was so cute. There was paint all over her t-shirt and a small smudge on her cheek that Lexa thought she could wipe away with her thumb if she just... _No. Stop that!_

“Oh, great. Thanks. It’s a bit weird to be at home when I’m interviewing people. I forget all about going business casual because nobody can see me, not even my boss, you know? Like, yesterday morning, I didn’t even put pants on.” _Why? Why tell her that? What the Fuck?_

Clarke’s cheeks flushed red, her eyes dipping low to the skinny jeans Lexa threw on this morning, and back up to Lexa’s own eyes. She gulped, Lexa thought it was a gulp, but she didn’t know what it meant. The moment felt heated, their eyes locked in a kind of curious dance, but Raven broke them out of it.

“You should stay for dinner, Lexa. Clarke is cooking.”

“You can cook?” Lexa asked and she didn’t mean for it to come out how it did, like a jeer or insult or something, and she just knew whatever was happening was about to come crashing down around her. _Shit_. She still hadn’t asked for toilet paper.

But instead, Clarke smiled. “I mean, no. Well, kind of. I can follow a recipe, at least, which is more than I can say for Raven. She burned Ramen noodles once-”

“Okay, that was one time! And my mind is brilliant, Clarke, but it’s so full of this supreme intellect that I cannot possibly squeeze room in there for trivial tasks.” Raven retorted, sticking a tongue out at the blonde as she did.

“So, being able to feed yourself is trivial?” Lexa queried. Odd, to think that, given that all of the restaurants had been ordered to close and the only way to get any kind of food was to, well, cook it.

“Exactly! Thank you, Lexa. She’s been saying shit like that since Monday. Yesterday she asked me to go get her Arby’s.” Clarke rolled her eyes so hard they disappeared into the back of her skull. Lexa thanked her lucky stars that she didn’t have a roommate. The isolation hadn’t been so hard on her, and when she did feel a bit cooped up, she played with Gustus or called Anya.

“Anytime, Clarke.” Lexa smiled. Clarke smiled. It was weird and new and Lexa liked it a lot. But oh no, she still hadn’t asked for toilet paper and Lexa felt like the nervous energy between them could go south if she brought it up, but she needed to and -

“So, do you want to? Stay for dinner, I mean. If you want to, but no pressure or anything. You might not even like dates, the recipe has dates in it, and to be honest, I’m not even sure what a date is, but we bought some for this chicken recipe I found online and it looks really good, if you’re into dates, I guess...” Raven was laughing. Lexa couldn’t stop the smirk from growing across her lips.

“I like dates.” Lexa spoke with a flirty tone, hoping Clarke would catch it, and she did, she must have because her cheeks went rosy again and her eyes got that twinkle in them, the twinkle Lexa hadn’t seen since the first night they met before... “Let me just take Gustus upstairs and then I’ll be back down, if that’s okay.”

“Nonsense!” Raven shouted from her cozy spot on the couch. “He can stay. The couch is big enough for all of us,” she added, patting the spot near her and calling him to come over.

“Okay, great. Cool. We’ll stay.” _This is weird. But good. Right?_

________

_Oh God, she’s staying._ Clarke looked down at her sweats again and cringed. She couldn’t possibly go on looking like this all evening with Lexa looking like, well, _that_. Her skinny jeans hugged her ass perfectly and when she turned around, Clarke could just imagine it was the perfect handful and— _stop it!_

“I’m just gonna run to the bathroom super fast!” It came out like a sort of squeal and startled Lexa and Raven, but she didn’t wait to see their reaction. She shut the door to her bedroom with a dull thud and gasped for air. _Think, Clarke, think._ She spotted a pair of crumpled up jeans on the floor near the closet and figured they’d be better than sweats, at least. She pulled her paint-stained t-shirt off and tugged a long-sleeved shirt from university on - she still wasn’t wearing a bra, but if memory served her correctly, Lexa really wouldn’t mind that - and sprinted through the door to her bathroom to freshen up.

After splashing cool water on her face, re-doing her messy bun three times to achieve the perfect I-wasn’t-even-trying-it-just-looks-like-this-naturally look, and brushing her teeth for absolutely NO reason at all, she emerged from her bedroom looking like a completely different person. And judging by the way Lexa’s eyes move up and down, assessing her body in the tighter jeans and somewhat snug shirt, the change was definitely appreciated. _Good_.

Lexa and Raven were talking quietly about something that sounded too much like news for Clarke to pay attention when she plopped down next to Gustus on the couch. Lexa was sitting in the purple armchair across from the couch, the ugly one Raven said was the only thing she had left from her mother, that they had to get professionally cleaned three times to rid it of the weird boozey-smoke smell. She rubbed the dog’s back and pretended to listen to them while she searched the TV Guide for something decent to put on in the background. She was watching Harry Potter on SYFY when it hit her - Lexa had been knocking on their door. _Why?_

“Wait, Lexa!” Clarke interrupted the conversation she was still not fully paying attention to. “You were knocking before. Was there something you came down for?” Clarke was careful to make sure her tone was light, not accusatory, just curious.

“Oh. Um,” Lexa seemed nervous again. _What_ is _up?_ “I’m out of toilet paper and I know you guys have a lot and I was wondering - ”

“Hold up,” Clarke put her hand up to stop Lexa from going any further. _Guess I’m not a problem now._

________

“Oh. Um,” Lexa felt her nerves come alive. _It was going so well, too._ “I’m out of toilet paper and I know you guys have a lot and I was wondering - ”

“Hold up,” Clarke stopped her.

Lexa worried her bottom lip between her teeth. Raven had stopped talking altogether, holding her breath maybe, and Lexa was on the edge of her seat waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop.

But it didn’t. Clarke seemed to mull it over, moved her head side to side, thinking, and then one eyebrow cocked up ever so slightly and a small smile began to form on her lips.

“Let me get this straight. First, you said I was the problem. But now, it would seem, that it’s you with the problem.”

“Are you saying Lexa has you, then? Like, if she has a problem and you are _the_ problem, she’s got you, Clarke?” _What?_ Lexa was confused because it did kind of sound like that was what Clarke was saying, but she was also pretty positive that was not what Clarke was trying to say and -

“What? No, I wasn’t - that’s not...” Clarke seemed to try to work out in her head, but Raven just seemed entirely too amused by Clarke’s bumble. It was pretty cute, actually, if Lexa was honest.

“Aww, Clarke you can do it!” Raven placed her hand near her mouth conspiratorially, looking to Lexa as she whispered, “She’s trying to flirt.”

________

“I was not!” She was. She definitely was, but damn, she was rusty. And Lexa had always had this effect on her anyway, so she couldn’t be blamed for the lame attempt. At least this time she wasn’t being awkwardly rude to Lexa. Just awkwardly, well, awkward.

Lexa smiled at Clarke and it was the kind of smile Raven talked about seeing at the bar. It was real and it reached her eyes and they looked mesmerizing and gentle and kind and _green_ in a way Clarke hadn’t noticed before and she was staring into them and quite possibly Lexa was reading her mind because she let out a low chuckle thing and then Clarke was smiling, too, and the air felt really, very different between them.

Raven rustles around but neither of them paid it any attention. She set her laptop down on the ottoman and gathered up her paperwork. She was done working for the day, Clarke could tell by the way she was putting her things away, but she couldn’t bring herself to look away from Lexa because Lexa was looking at her again with that, that look like maybe, probably, there _was_ something between them and it made Clarke’s heart feel happy.

“Cough, cough.” Raven said. She wasn’t coughing. She was just trying to pull them out of their moment and it worked, kind of, because Lexa broke eye contact and hummed in response.

“Hmm?”

“You were saying you need toilet paper, right? Because my violent diarrhea has mostly subsided and you’re welcome to grab a pack from the hall closet if you need it.”

“You’re... You’re _what_?”

“I told you!” Clarke exclaimed. “I told you it was Raven’s fault and you seemed _so_ sure she couldn’t possibly have anything to do with it!”

“Well, you didn’t exactly _explain_ what you meant by that - ”

“How could I have? You didn’t give me time! You just spun away like a damn ballerina or something and left me standing there feeling guilty about toilet paper. Raven’s toilet paper!”

“I mean...” Lexa seemed to think it over. Clarke was right, she knew it. “A ballerina, eh?” Lexa quirked a brow at Clarke and her cheeks tinged pink for the millionth time that day. Or maybe like the fifth, but regardless, it kept happening.

“Well, yeah, you know how you,” Clarke gestured with her hands but it didn’t look like much of anything. “You like, its just the way you walk, okay? All smooth and debonair and stuff.”

“You think I’m smooth?” The smirk Lexa was sporting only further darkened the pink tint of Clarke’s cheeks. _Dammit_. There was no way she could dig herself out of that and, looking at Raven, it became immediately clear that her roommate was having way too much fun at her expense to offer any kind of assistance.

“Uh,” Clarke was caught and she knew it. She couldn’t think of anything clever, either, because Lexa was looking at her with that smug kind of sexy thing she did and _fuck_ she might as well just admit it. “Yeah, I guess. I mean, I think a lot of things about you, so that’s not even really a big deal in comparison to like, other thoughts I’ve had, so yeah, yes I think you’re smooth.” _Oh God, why?_ In classic Clarke fashion, she rambled again and said way more than she meant to.

Lexa didn’t even try to respond. She just covered a laugh with her hands and smiled at Clarke again, big and meaningful, and this time Clarke was pretty sure she knew what was going on behind that smile.

“So, Clarke, about dinner,” Lexa began and Clarke could feel her lungs contracting because Lexa was stepping closer and now she was all up in Clarke’s space and Clarke couldn’t breath and she couldn’t move backward because her legs had stopped functioning, too, and she was just looking at Lexa with her bright blue eyes trained on vibrant green, full of hope and maybe more... “I’m really looking forward to these dates you’ve talked about and I was wondering if you might need a hand... in the kitchen.”

_Just in the kitchen?_ “Yeah, that would be great.”

Lexa threaded their fingers together and tugged Clarke toward the kitchen. The moment was charged once again and Clarke didn’t know how but she was breathing again, and she felt light in a way she hadn’t in such a long time. And maybe Raven was right. Maybe Finn was a dick. But Lexa, Lexa was practically perfect in every way and there was something about the way it felt to have their hands linked together that made Clarke’s heart soar and mend and she felt safe and calm and suddenly _confident_.

“Hey, Lex...” Lexa looked up at Clarke with reverence, like she was feeling exactly the same way, and it only emboldened her further. “Maybe once this whole like, pandemic thing, calms down a bit, you and I, we, we could go out on a real date?”

“I would love that, Clarke.”


End file.
